[trystan830]

just thought of this: in reference to the word graveyard - yes, the goal of NaNo is to write a novel. but also to write 50,000 words towards that novel.

my 2012 novel is the shortest one i wrote, totalling 51,151 words (google docs says 51068 words) - the novel itself is 50287 words (again, google docs) without the word graveyard (781 words). but it's a complete novel; i finished it, wrote ~fini~ on my last page.

compare that with my older daughter, who, in 2013, 'won' on November 30th with 52,325 words - but she wasn't done the story (that happened in april of 2014, with a total of 100,088 words.) so when she was done, she'd won with half a novel.

Coda, upthread you said 'the goal is to write a 50,000-word novel, not to write 50,000 words in the process of writing a novel' - but my older daughter won with, technically, '50,000 words in the process of writing a novel.'

i know you also said the word graveyard is/was a grey area, but it stuck with me, and now that it's unstuck, that's my rationale for using the word graveyard. =)